Seven!

Seven!

4:04 a.m.  That was when Caroline woke up to start celebrating her birthday.  4:04 a.m. when she turned the light on in Josiah's bedroom.  The bedroom all three kids have been camping out in for the past few weeks.  The light she not only turned on, but refused to turn off so the boys were not just woken up but kept awake.  All I can say is, I'm glad she waited til 6:00 to come to my side of the bed.

Caroline wanted her presents hidden this year.  In years past, the kids have asked for clues to go from present to present.  She didn't ask for that this year.  So we just hid them and wished her good luck.  I did take a picture the night before so I had an idea if we were missing one, but she found them all.  She received many wonderful gifts again from Grandparents and Aunts/Uncles and cousins, even her brothers.  She really liked everything.  She played with her new dancer doll.  She put her doll in her new desk, set up the new biology kit and said she was homeschooled.  She played with her Polly Pocket house all day long.  She flipped her Flip-zee-girl back and forth and back and forth.

For breakfast, she had trouble deciding between the Reese's Puff cereal (candy cereal) or doughnuts.  She chose the Reese's cereal.  She took a few bites and didn't like it.  She has never been a fan of cereal in general, and I don't think she has liked a single sugary cereal.  She wants to like them, but she just doesn't (yay for that!).  Next year she'll go back to her old trusty doughnuts.

For lunch, she wanted McDonald's.  (She asked to go every day in San Antonio, but there was no way I was stepping foot in that particular McDonald's.  It did not look like it had passed any recent health inspections.) As we were driving there, Todd asked her why she didn't pick Smashburger which has much, much, much better hamburgers.  She said it was because she cannot finish her food at Smashburger and she didn't want to waste food.  So to McDonald's we went.  She finished her whole Happy Meal.

She spent her whole birthday playing with all her new things.  The boys play "Ja'Neesa" with her, which is the Our Generation dolls.  Now that there are three, they each play one.  They actually play really nicely together and Caroline's whole bed is set up as a doll's house - there's a book area, sleeping area, school area, art area.  This is why she has to sleep in Josiah's bottom bunk.

She also helped me make her cake.  She really wanted a rainbow birthday cake.  She wanted a layered cake with all the colors of the rainbow and rainbow sprinkles up on top. Since I couldn't figure out any other (easy) way to do it, we used three boxes of cake mix to get the six colors of the rainbow.  That didn't stop Todd from asking where the indigo layer was.  Not here.  Since we had so many layers, I thought it would be best to make our own frosting since we would potentially need a lot.  She helped to whisk the buttercream frosting, took some licks and said she liked it.  She decorated the top of her cake with sprinkles and the side with a party hat.  The boys were also able to put a frosting heart/balloon on the side.  Then, after a very Southern dinner of crispy chicken, lima beans, and cornbread (the birthday girl's favorite foods), we had our cake.  It looked like a rainbow on the inside.  I was pretty happy with the way the colors turned out.  But halfway through eating her slice of cake, Caroline said she was done.  Then she said, "Mommy, I'm not saying you're a bad cook....  But next year I'm going to get my cake from Kroger."  And Happy Birthday.

Since they were all up at 4:00 a.m., we had an early bedtime and they all went soundly to sleep.  Todd and I are happy to close another birthday season.  Now we are in the year of the odds.  11, 9, 7.

Henry is Nine!

Caroline's painting

At CC this week, the kids learned about Berthe Morisot, another French Impressionist painter.  She liked to use lots of paint and her paintings were raised because of it.  So, to imitate her, we "painted" using colored joint compound and Q-tips.  The kids had an outline sketch of one of her pieces and were able to put the joint compound right on top.  They had a lot of fun doing this one.  But the best part came at lunch time when the director of our campus passed out cookies with Morisot's flowers and vase picture on it.  There were color dots at the bottom and tiny paint brushes and the kids could paint their cookie icing and then eat the whole cookie.  The concept of painting your own cookie was incredibly creative.  This was the good part of CC.  Then there was the messy part.  In science, the experiment was to demonstrate the law of inertia.  A soda can on a piece of paper is at rest and wants to remain at rest.  At least it should want to remain at rest.  We quickly pulled the paper out from under the can demonstrating the can remaining at rest.  Then the kids from Caroline's class tried it.  But they are a young group.  And they were scared.  So they didn't pull the paper quickly enough.  So after a few tries of the cans falling on the ground, one finally exploded.  It wasn't just a small, steady stream of soda that you could get to a sink.  The whole can literally exploded.  All seven girls had it on their clothes, it was all over the tables, all the chairs, it was a gigantic mess.  So her class learned that science can be messy.  Next time we'll be sure to use a nice thick soup can....


The kids saw the dentist this week and none of them had cavities.  I was shocked that their 10-15 second brushing sessions resulted in such good oral health.  Caroline said her hygienist told her that she was doing a good job and to keep on doing what she was doing. Oh, lady, please, no!  I think we should encourage her to add a good 30 more seconds to her brushing routine.

And then it was Henry's birthday.  Nine!  He was so excited for his birthday.  All day Friday he said that he was going to get the Minecraft game for the PS4.  When asked what he wanted to do on his birthday, he said he wanted to play the Minecraft game that he just knew he was going to get.  Well, what if you don't get that?  What do you want to do?  Silence...  Of course, we hadn't bought the Minecraft game.
I woke up at 6:00 a.m. and heard all three kids chatting and laughing away.  Who knows at what ungodly hour they awoke!  For breakfast, Henry chose doughnuts, so Todd and he headed out to get them.  Henry's plan was to eat all the doughnuts before opening his gifts, so we knew to limit the number we bought.  After sugaring themselves up, it was onto gifts.  He was abundantly blessed once again by so many family members!  Aunts and Uncles, Grandparents and cousins.  He opened Lego kits, puzzles, mind games, regular games, books, cameras, an Erector set, binoculars, and Newton's cradle.  No Minecraft video game, but he really loved it all.  He had a permanent smile all morning.

Once Game Stop opened, Todd took him and Henry used his money to buy Minecraft.  He really wanted it because at noon, he had a friend coming over.  This is the same CC friend from Josiah's birthday.  This kid is Josiah's age, but he is seriously the nicest kid you could ever meet.  He is so kind and polite and genuine and respectful.  He is also good at video games.  At noon they started playing Minecraft.  After an hour or so we had pizza.  Then they were back to Minecraft.  After another two hours we had cake.  Then they were back to Minecraft.  They played for a good four hours total.  And when this friend left, Henry just fell apart.  It was too much.  Too much birthday.  Too much time playing video games.  We went out to eat dinner as a family and Henry was barely keeping his head up.  So, at 7:30 p.m. we put them all to bed and they all fell asleep pretty quickly.  And that is why they speak so often of establishing time limits for video games/media!



Today was the day our church closes its doors and we go out into the community to do service projects.  We met on a street that had been affected by Hurricane Harvey.  We had a team of people putting up doors in an elderly lady's house.  Her home had flooded during the hurricane, and though she was back living in her home, she has had zero interior doors for two and a half years.  So, there were men putting up doors all over her house.  The rest of us cleaned up the yards of 10 houses on the street - raking, weeding, mowing, edging, mulching, and planting a few flowers.  Our family raked, weeded, and mulched three houses.  Todd and I came home tired!  It didn't seem to affect the kids at all.  They were out playing with their friends just as quickly as they could.  Running around the street, riding their bikes and scooters.   


This evening, Henry coerced Todd to help him with his puzzle.  While Henry showered, he asked Todd to set aside all the edge pieces.  Then when he was clean, Henry came back to work on it.  Henry has always loved puzzles.

We have another busy week up ahead.  The boys have a STEM class at the Children's Museum downtown this week.  We don't know exactly what they're doing, but it was free so it must be fun!

Dad Jokes

Josiah had his well-child visit to the doctor this week.  It was confirmed what we already knew.  He's a quite healthy, very thin, 11-year old.  We were really excited about his height which jumped up to the 26th percentile.  For all his eleven years, he has hung out in the "less than 5th percent" for height and weight, so any time he can get over that 5th percentile hump it's exciting.  Sadly for him, age 11 is the next round of shots.  He got three at this visit.  While we were waiting for the nurse to come back in to administer them, we were trying to keep Josiah distracted and thinking happy thoughts.  At least I was.  Caroline started talking to him in a very calm voice, "Josiah, think about Disney World and having fun and think about the Muppets.....AND GETTING A FLU SHOT."  Then she'd burst out laughing.  Henry didn't even attempt to calm Josiah.  He laughingly said, "She's going to give you a shot in your neck, in your bum, and in your [Parent Edit: groinal area].  I told Henry and Caroline that I was going to bring Josiah to their 11-year visits so he could get them back.  Josiah made it through the shots, but he had a very sore leg for several days.

Caroline put his shoes on for him when it was time to go because his legs were already hurting.

At CC this week, they kids celebrated Valentine's Day and were able to exchange valentines in their classes.  It was a very fun, but busy day for them.  In art we did Monet paintings.  We dabbed lots of colors to make our water and waterlilies.  I love the art projects.  I love that I don't have to buy all the supplies or come up with the ideas.  :)  And I love how well they all turn out.

For Valentine's Day, we got the kids small heart boxes of chocolates and cards.  Caroline informed me that she was happy to have it, but that she actually wanted three things.  The candy box we got her, a giant Reese's peanut butter cup, and a giant mug filled with chocolates and a stuffed animal that we saw at the grocery store.  Fortunately, Todd's boss rescued us on one count.  She gave each of the kids a stuffed animal with a heart attached, so in the end they got their candy and their plush.  Considering Josiah has at least 40 stuffed animals currently on his bed we're thrilled he can add to the mix.

On Saturday the boys headed to the Second Annual Brazcon Comi-con.  They went to a riveting talk about the evolution of Spiderman.  The man giving the presentation was the Young Adult librarian from a local library.  He asked the audience a bunch of questions and both Todd and Josiah answered a question earning them cool (homemade) buttons.  Then Henry won the door prize at the end and got some comic books that are probably too mature and inappropriate for him to read.  After learning all there was to know about Spiderman, they spent some time in the Lego area.  Josiah ended up buying five different Lego figures throughout the course of the day.  The price range over all was quite broad, but they had many for $3 and $5.  Henry only wanted a $25 Lego figure, which we did not feel was a very good use of his money, so he pouted for a bit and chose not to buy anything.  He sure punished us!  They made Chewbacca pencil holders and ate from food trucks.  Todd said this year there were many more people dressed up for Cos-play competitions.  Our boys were really weirded out by it (which is always nice when I can see my genes bubbling to the surface).  But in the end they said they liked the convention and wanted to go back next year.  Todd keeps inviting Caroline and I to go, but I can guarantee she and I are fully booked for whatever weekend it falls on next year.

The Alamo out of Legos

Some sort of Star Wars gun

While the menfolk were living it up at Comi-Con, Caroline and I went to a birthday party for one of her CC friends.  This is the family that lives way out in the country.  After the party was over, Caroline said that she wanted to live in the country.  Then she amended it to say she wanted to live in their house in the country because she loves their house.  The father has created very fun things in each of the bedrooms.  One has a rock wall, another has a intricate bunk bed system (hard to explain, but very cool), and the girl's bedroom has a tunnel.  That's what you get when the dad is an engineer.
Caroline found a kindred spirit with the birthday girl.  They both love arts and crafts.  The project for her birthday was a fairy/unicorn stencil on a canvas that they got to paint.  Caroline had a great time at the party and ate her weight in "unicorn poop" which was pastel Sixlets (like M&Ms).

I love how she never leaves enough room for her whole name.  It always finishes on the next line.  :)

Caroline has been getting wise to Todd's dad humor.  He's been getting a lot more eye rolls than laughs lately.  On the way to church this morning it was incredibly foggy out.  As we were driving, Caroline was noting aloud just how foggy it was.  Todd, in all his dad humor, said, "Aren't you glad it's not FROGGY out? ha. ha. ha."  Caroline, totally deadpan, replied, "Is that funny to Daddy?"  Yes. To Daddy.

NASA

One evening this week we watched some of America's Got Talent.  They had winners from other countries there competing and Caroline was enamored by all the acrobats they had.  She kept saying, "I want to do that," while some lady spun from a metal circle 25 feet in the air.  The very last contestant of the show was a contortionist who won Africa's Got Talent.  I have never in my life seen such unbelievable contortions.  He literally popped his shoulder out of the socket.  We were screaming in shock and a little horror at what he was able to do.  Caroline couldn't handle it.  She was so freaked out that she couldn't sleep that night and made me sleep in her bed.  So, if you ever want to see something crazy, look up the contortionist winner from Africa's Got Talent.

Henry found the t-shirt he was wearing on a sign.

This week we finally made it out to NASA Houston.  As in, "Houston, we have a problem."  The day we went was in the lower 50s and windy.  Usually that's not a big deal when going to a museum, but one of the major things to do at this museum is tram rides around Johnson Space Center.  Our first tram ride was to Apollo Mission Control Center.  We froze our tails off on the way, but it was worth it.  Mission Control has been restored back to it's glory days from the 1970's, complete with ashtrays full of cigarettes at each desk along with an extra pack of smokes and matches.  It made Todd and I laugh to see so many cigarettes.  I cannot imagine what the air in that room smelled like during missions!  They had a great presentation in there complete with all the video footage from when we touched down on the moon.  We sat in the actual seats of the observation room.  They were the shade of orange-brown that was only popular during that time period.

Our second tram ride later that day was to the Mission Control of today.  The scientists in there work on simulations for the International Space Station.  Each day they are presented with a number of (fake) problems that they have to solve in anticipation of real problems on the ISS.  (The real problems on ISS are worked out in a different room without a giant observation booth.) Our tour guide told us that this Mission Control would be closing down to the public in the next few months in anticipation of their mission to Mars.  They are not planning on going to Mars for 20 more years, so it was cool that we got to see it, since it sounds like it'll be closed for a very long time.

They are using Orion for their preliminary Mars trips and we were able to see that, too.

On the way back to the museum on the second tram ride, we stopped to see the Saturn V rocket.  It was the actual, full size rocket.  They said they built the building around the rocket so they could restore it.  It was massive in size.  The kids really enjoyed seeing it, but at this point in the day the younger two were running out of steam and were more interested in fighting over who could sit on the outside edge during the tram ride.  I asked Henry, "Are you more interested in where you sit on a tram than in seeing all the amazing things they're bringing us to?"  He looked back at me and definitively said, "Yes."  And that was a good indicator that our day was done!

Saturn V, the bottom

Saturn V, the top (Caroline in blue)

Somewhere towards the top of Saturn V.

On the tram, freezing our tushies off, but she's happy because she got the end seat.

In between our tram tours, we explored inside the museum.  The kids had fun docking into the ISS using a laser.  They had to get the laser from one target to the other in 30 seconds.  It made a loud beep when you made it in, so it gave them a big sense of satisfaction.


They also had a shuttle we could explore.  In the picture below, they had that same shuttle and airplane on the grounds outside the museum, so we were able to explore both.  They hollowed out the Boeing airplane and then reinforced it to carry the shuttle back.

My favorite part was the scales they had that showed your weight on different planets.  If I was the weight that I was on Mars I wouldn't have any reason to lie about it on medical forms. Yay for that.

Now we feel like real Houstonians.  We've been to NASA. ✔

Caroline was in cup-tower mode all week.  Many evenings when Todd came home from work, he was met with a new tower.  She is amazing at them and does most of them all by herself.  Every now and then she asks for help for the super tall cups.  The very last one she did was a princess castle in which each princess has their own section.  That has stayed up for the whole weekend.  The only person who is not on board with the cup towers is Henry.  Because they take up so much of the walkway, he isn't able to run around tossing his football in the air.  The wind from his constant running would knock some of her towers over.  Every day he asks for them to be disassembled.   

This weekend, we also finished my pencil puzzle from Grandma and Grandpa.  Henry's my puzzle partner and this was a really fun one to do.

And so ends our week.